Gardner Minshew Is Available in Gardner Minshew’s Fantasy League

Reinhold Matay/USA Today Sports

Nobody expected Gardner Minshew, a rookie sixth-round pick coming out of Mike Leach’s pass-happy Washington State offense, to make much of an impact this season. No one in their right mind would have selected him in their preseason fantasy draft. Even after a fairly impressive start, Minshew is owned in just 48.9% of ESPN leagues. 

Minshew’s own league is not among that list. 

Tre Polk, a friend of Minshew’s from back home in Mississippi, told ESPN that the quarterback is a fantasy genius. Minshew, Polk said, decided to start from scratch in their dynasty league and draft an entirely new roster. 

“It was ridiculous,” Polk told ESPN. “He must have known something about Melvin Gordon, and he worked out with Josh Jacobs and liked what he saw so he took him, and he took the Patriots defense, and he grabbed Austin Ekeler ... Bottom line: He redrafted, like, his whole team, and he's tied for first place. He just sees the game in a different way.”

Minshew, Polk added, remains a free agent in the league.

A Reddit user (whose name I will not be printing on this site) who is actually in the league with Minshew shared a screengrab of Minshew’s team on the Fantasy Football subreddit. It shows that Minshew is 4–1 on the season and is rolling with Kyler Murray as his quarterback. 

Murray was taken 177 picks before Minshew in April’s draft, but his fantasy production isn’t that much higher than Minshew’s. Murray is currently averaging 19.5 fantasy points per game, ninth-best in the league, while Minshew isn’t far behind with 17.9 points per game (12th in the league). If Minshew needs another QB option during Murray’s Week 12 bye, he might as well call his own number.